Saturday, July 6, 2013

Anime Review: Deadman Wonderland

DEADMAN
WONDERLAND: Interesting concepts, but fails to deliver at some points

There
have been many mainstream shorts lately, and I must say that they are very fun
to watch, since I don’t need to dedicate lots of hours to be told a good story.
One of them is Deadman Wonderland, which tells Ganta Igarashi’s peculiar
experiences inside the privately operated prison with the same name.

The
story doesn’t dive too deep in the protagonist’s normal lifestyle, and just
goes straight to the rising action. This brief stasis point could be a crucial
factor in the success of the conflict. However, in the case of Deadman
Wonderland, it has been successful still. From the very first episode, a major
conflict has been triggered, and so it isn’t very surprising that the viewers
will get hooked in the story right away. The story just doesn’t waste time for
random fundamentals that wouldn’t have any direct impact to the overall story.

What
makes this series more interesting is its ability to impose a certain set of
rules that the characters should follow. It is always fascinating to see the characters
being bound by rules. It makes the story immune to deus ex machina. However, no
matter how fascinating this concept may be, Deadman Wonderland fails to pull
them off perfectly, for they have not been expanded very well.

These
rules, along with certain plot points, lack sufficient explanation that would
make them legitimate. In a way, this is a cop out. It is just unacceptable to
feed the viewers with stuff that haven’t been explained sufficiently. I must
admit that this kind of storytelling could still be effective, for it gives the
viewers the chance to extend their imagination. But if a series does this
technique in important plot points, that is just objectionable.

The
characters of Deadman Wonderland are fairly interesting. They have peculiar
personalities and are unique in their own little ways. However, their greatest
flaw is character development. Some of the characters just don’t have enough
screen time for them to develop, and the characters that have, I must add,
developed rather prematurely.

These
flaws are the result of Deadman Wonderland’s shortness. The story and
characters are way complex when compared to the length of the series. If the
title has been longer, I am sure that these flaws will not even exist.

Overall,
Deadman Wonderland is still an interesting watch, for the established world is
intriguing enough to capture the attention of the viewers. The core problem just
lies only in its length.

About The Author

You can call me Arvin Saints, but that is not my real name. I use that name in all my legitimate social media accounts. It’s not that I don’t want to directly associate myself to the cyber world. The name is simply an inside joke among my compatriots.